Towards Safe Academic Environment

A reflection on the
meaning of Boko Haram; “Western education is a sin,” and a consideration of the stern determination of the insurgents, who have vowed to stop at nothing in stamping out western education in Nigeria, tends to pitch the insurgents on the winning side.
Aside their dogged posture and resilient disposition, these men with the hearts of stone, appear to have the brain power in working out their proposal. This is visible in their choice of Nigerian girls as a contact point for the destabilisation of the stronghold of Western education in Nigeria.
The fact that educating a woman or a girl child is tantamount to educating a whole society makes it  possible for any one to believe that these men of the underworld are not out for a joke. May be, the nation is yet to acquaint itself with the reality of the time as the attacks on schools, teachers and female pupils and students in Nigeria have not only increased the number of out-of-school children, but have killed the zeal and interest for western education among parents of female children.
Gradually, the handwriting of the insurgents is becoming clearer by the day, the academic sector has began to feel the impact of the devastation on the system. Not quite long, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) declared that insecurity in some parts of the country, particularly in the north-east, has adversely affected the conduct of its examination.
The killings of thousands of people by the outlawed Boko Haram group, which is opposed to western education, seems to be majorly targeted at schools, teachers, and students.
The result is a whooping number of out-of-school children. According to President Goodluck Jonathan, during his inauguration of the Committee on Safe School initiative, over 10 million children have currently backed out of school. Why? The fear of Boko Haram attack.
Ofcourse, any same person could view this trend as a right step in a right direction. This is so because security of life comes first before rights and privileges. Suffice it to say that one must first be alive before considering education and when such protection could not come from the authority vested with the power and responsibility to secure lives and properties, humans learn to take their destinies and fates by their hands.
For most parents in the north, it is better to have illiterate children that are alive, than to have educated ones that are dead or kidnapped. The height of phobia for the activities of the insurgents especially in the northern part of the country, is gradually grinding academic activities to a halt if nothing is done to arrest the situation.
This makes the ‘Safe School Initiative’ a welcome idea as that, if faithfully pursued, could help salvage the situation seeing that no parent or child could risk life for education.
However, my worry is that, it takes my country nothing to come up with ideas, and initiatives, and programmes aimed at alleviating dilapidating situations and conditions, but becomes a very big tug-of-war to make such initiatives work. This accounts for why we have many moribund agencies and boards. It is worst when governments change batons of leadership because, successive governments consider it less profitable, continuing projects initiated by previous administrations, to the detriment of the citizenry, who are the eventual beneficiaries of such initiatives.
Security measures that enhance public safety are a critical priority in today’s increased threat environment. In any operational scenario, public safety must not be downplayed as efforts populace should be acquainted with the relevant information on  what to do at critical times becomes imperative.
To check the increasing number of school drop-outs, a ‘Safe School Initiative’ was launched in Nigeria’s during the World Economic Forum on Africa held in Abuja, Nigeria a capital, in May.
The finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala  had said that the fund would help ensure that children in schools in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states got educated in safe environments.
With a total of 100 million dollars needed as take-off grants for the Safe School Initiative programme, it is expected  that schools in the volatile north-east, where Boko Haram has carried out series of attack, are safe for learning.
Although President Jonathan has pledged the resolve of his administration to tackle insurgency headlong during the inauguration of the steering committee on Safe School Initiative, the nation is watching, hoping that it does not end like our “usual” adhoc arrangements.

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi